Sri Lanka: Top rebel dead, civil war over

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — After more than a quarter-century of civil war, Sri Lanka faces the daunting task of trying to reconcile and rebuild after its troops routed the last Tamil Tiger separatist rebels Monday and killed their feared leader.

One of the world’s most sophisticated insurgencies, the Tamil Tigers and their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, were brought down by a string of fatal misjudgments and an unrelenting government onslaught aimed at crushing the rebellion at all costs.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who plans to officially declare victory today in a speech to parliament, has promised a power sharing deal with the Tamil minority. But the end of the war, which killed more than 70,000 people and displaced 265,000 others, could complicate efforts to forge a lasting peace.

The destruction of the rebels’ conventional forces does not mean the threat is over. Insurgents hiding in the jungles of the east have emerged periodically to attack government forces and civilians, and the rebels had sleeper cells planted in Colombo and other towns.

The Tamil Tigers also retain a vast international smuggling network and the financial support of some of the 800,000 Tamil expatriates. At least one top rebel leader, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the reputed smuggling mastermind, remains at large.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. is “relieved that the immense loss of life and killing of innocent civilians appears to be over,” and he urged Sri Lanka to build a tolerant society and help those hurt by the fighting.

While Velupillai Prabhakaran was a hero to some, his group was branded a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union. It was accused of waging hundreds of suicide attacks, including the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and forcibly recruiting child soldiers.

In recent months, government forces ousted the rebels from their stronghold in the north and cornered the retreating fighters in a tiny strip along the northeast coast.

On Monday morning, the troops closed in, the military said.

Prabhakaran and his deputies drove an armor-plated van accompanied by a bus filled with rebel fighters toward the tightening cordon, sparking a two-hour firefight, two military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Troops eventually fired a rocket at the van, ending the battle, and pulled out Prabhakaran’s body as well as those of Soosai, his naval commander, and Pottu Amman, his feared intelligence chief, the officials said. Prabhakaran’s son, Charles Anthony, was also killed, along with 250 rebel fighters, the military said.